21 May, 2016

'More Hidden Hamilton - further stories of people, place and community'

My personal quest to understand Hamilton began in 2013 when we moved here to live. I shared my discoveries through my Hidden Hamilton blog and Facebook page. After the publication of my book ‘Hidden Hamilton', based on the first year of my blog, I thought that was enough. I was wrong.

06 February, 2016

It's time to press 'pause'...

It’s time to press the ‘pause’ button for the Hidden Hamilton blog.

In just over two and a half years, 69 stories have been written and posted here, along with hundreds of posts on the Hidden Hamilton Facebook page. A book, ‘Hidden Hamilton – Uncovering stories of Hamilton NSW’ (Hunter Press, 2014) based on the first year of the blog, is now in its second printing.

09 December, 2015

A community finds its place - the Lettesi story

‘Why did we leave? Why wouldn’t we leave? We had lost everything.’ 

 In the Hamilton home of Tony (Antonio) and Pina D’Accione, I am listening to Ralph (Raffaele) Della Grotta with his wife Maria tell of their experiences as a member of the Lettesi community in Newcastle. The Lettesi[1] are part of a unique community of extended family members of some 145 households where one or both partners were born in the Abruzzo village of Lettopalena in Italy, and who settled in Newcastle between 1950 and 1956. [2] Two similar Lettesi communities are located in America and Argentina. [3]